Alexei Ramirez

[oldsox]

He had another strong game against the Twinkies today. A lot of people on this board don't like him, want him gone, and I don't get it. I think he is still a heckava shortstop. What is the problem with him? Is it the lack of homers (four)? Geez, he is hitting close to .290. Would an extra 3-4 HR's make a big difference? Is it his 20 errors. The guy has missed something like 3-4 innings this year. Does that not count?

 

I hope we keep him for at least a couple more seasons. Just wondered if I can get a concise evaluation of his play from those who don't like him.

[Buehrle>Wood]

Bring back Omar Vizquel into the organization please.

[Chicago White Sox]

He had another strong game against the Twinkies today. A lot of people on this board don't like him, want him gone, and I don't get it. I think he is still a heckava shortstop. What is the problem with him? Is it the lack of homers (four)? Geez, he is hitting close to .290. Would an extra 3-4 HR's make a big difference? Is it his 20 errors. The guy has missed something like 3-4 innings this year. Does that not count?

 

I hope we keep him for at least a couple more seasons. Just wondered if I can get a concise evaluation of his play from those who don't like him.

It's the 16 BBs that's the issue for me. On a team with a strong lineup 1-7, then Ramirez's skillset works well batting 9th. The problem is we have too many low OBP hitters as it is. At some point, we have to remove some of these guys from the equation and Alexei is one of the more expensive variables.

 

I still like Alexei, I think he has value, but his bat doesn't work well on our team IMO.

[GGajewski18]

It's the 16 BBs that's the issue for me. On a team with a strong lineup 1-7, then Ramirez's skillset works well batting 9th. The problem is we have too many low OBP hitters as it is. At some point, we have to remove some of these guys from the equation and Alexei is one of the more expensive variables.

 

I still like Alexei, I think he has value, but his bat doesn't work well on our team IMO.

 

LOL seriously? He's been the most consistent hitter all year on this team.

[Lillian]

The only guy who might be ready to play a solid SS, at the MLB level, is Marcus Semien. If he can produce anywhere near the level of OBP, that he put up in AA, he would be a suitable replacement. However, so far at AAA, he hasn't been able to match that. And, of course, he is not going to provide the defense which Alexei can. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to hang on to him for at least one more year, especially in order to help try and sign Jose Abreu.

After that, maybe they will be able to turn to Tim Anderson.

Edited August 18, 2013 by Lillian

[elrockinMT]

I think Alexei might be trade bait this winter but I really like the guy. I hope he and Beckham anchor the middle for a few more years. I think 3B and maybe 1B will be our issue next year. Possibly even RF

[Chicago White Sox]

LOL seriously? He's been the most consistent hitter all year on this team.

And he has a .690 OPS to show for it. Again, not saying Alexei is the problem, but he's part of it and moving him gives us more financial flexibility to fix the other parts as well.

[mataipaepae]

I think Alexei might be trade bait this winter but I really like the guy. I hope he and Beckham anchor the middle for a few more years. I think 3B and maybe 1B will be our issue next year. Possibly even RF

isn't garcia locked into RF? why is this a question?

[Paulstar]

I think the writing is on the wall that he will be traded this offseason. I think the plan going into next year is to have some combination of Beckham and Seiman at SS and 2B, with L. Garcia being the backup at SS due to him supposedly being an excellent defender.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

He had another strong game against the Twinkies today. A lot of people on this board don't like him, want him gone, and I don't get it. I think he is still a heckava shortstop. What is the problem with him? Is it the lack of homers (four)? Geez, he is hitting close to .290. Would an extra 3-4 HR's make a big difference? Is it his 20 errors. The guy has missed something like 3-4 innings this year. Does that not count?

 

I hope we keep him for at least a couple more seasons. Just wondered if I can get a concise evaluation of his play from those who don't like him.

Thing is every player has flaws and on a message board with a bad team you're going to hear an awful lot of bad things said. With Alexei its power issues but he's like 5th in the AL in doubles. Then there's error but defensive metrics say despite the errors he's still a very good SS. Then there's lack of walks ,age ,and contract. All that being said I like him .

[greg775]

I like Lexi, but he does boot a lot of ground balls.

I wonder if Sox should move Lexi to second, Becks to third and let a minor leaguer take over at ss.

[greg775]

This is silly. Alexei has some of the best instincts/first steps in baseball. If he's on the White Sox he'll be the shortstop. Why would you move Beckham?

 

Lexi has been miserable defensively this season, right? He's only getting older.

[southsideirish71]

I like Lexi, but he does boot a lot of ground balls.

I wonder if Sox should move Lexi to second, Becks to third and let a minor leaguer take over at ss.

 

Kansas the land where logic is lost.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

I think the writing is on the wall that he will be traded this offseason. I think the plan going into next year is to have some combination of Beckham and Seiman at SS and 2B, with L. Garcia being the backup at SS due to him supposedly being an excellent defender.

I think you're jumping the gun on Semian. He still has a lot to prove.

[glangon]

I think it's the timing of what he does.

 

More often than not, the game is on the line and Alexei makes one of his stupid errors which ends up costing us the game. Straight after the error we see the stupid grin which really annoys me.

 

The other issue I have is that we can have a man on third, 1 out and Alexei up and watch him hit into a double play, but that normally happens to anyone in the team.

 

[Balta1701]

Lexi has been miserable defensively this season, right? He's only getting older.

No, Miserable is not the right word. He has been "distracted" or "unfocused". That's led to a lot of silly errors, but he still gets to balls that no one else in our system gets to right now.

[cabiness42]

No, Miserable is not the right word. He has been "distracted" or "unfocused". That's led to a lot of silly errors, but he still gets to balls that no one else in our system gets to right now.

 

That's the frustrating thing about Alexei. He makes plays that nobody else can make, and then can't make plays that everybody else can make.

 

[Balta1701]

That's the frustrating thing about Alexei. He makes plays that nobody else can make, and then can't make plays that everybody else can make.

Except in 2012, that wasn't the case with him. He finally cleaned up so many of those stupid, easy mistakes last year.

[southsider2k5]

No, Miserable is not the right word. He has been "distracted" or "unfocused". That's led to a lot of silly errors, but he still gets to balls that no one else in our system gets to right now.

 

I'd make a bet that a lot of it has to do with being on an awful baseball team right now.

[Soxfest]

AR good trade bait this offseason. He is not worth the contract IMO.

[Eminor3rd]

LOL seriously? He's been the most consistent hitter all year on this team.

 

.289/.312/.376 for a n 84 wRC+. Consistent? Perhaps, but consistently 16% below league average.

 

Now, that doesn't mean he's not a solid player. If he plays the defense he's capable of, he's a 3 win guy, but it's not because of his bat. He's 32 and being paid market value, and we have a glut of MI prospects in AA/AAA that are going to need to get some consistent ABs as soon as next year. We've seen his best, and given we're the third worst team in baseball, we just aren't going to gain much paying him to play a little worse each year.

[Eminor3rd]

Lexi has been miserable defensively this season, right? He's only getting older.

 

Not as bad as everyone thinks. He's still a +5 defender per UZR. He's made more errors this year but he still has great range. It's easy to take that for granted, I think.

[Eminor3rd]

Except in 2012, that wasn't the case with him. He finally cleaned up so many of those stupid, easy mistakes last year.

 

That's the thing -- guys can have good years and bad years defensively just like they can at the plate. He's not as good as he was in 2012 and not as bad as he's been this year. He's a defensive asset at the end of the day, but he's an aging one with no surplus value on his contract. Useful for a contender, not useful for us.

[elrockinMT]

Fans can be so unforgiving. As Balta said Alexei still can outshine anyone we have currently in the system. I think 2014 will be better and AR will have that focus again. You don't just throw the guy away because he has a difficult defensive year

[oldsox]

Defensive stats are very subjective. Official Scorers have their own agenda. Happened lat night. A one hopper hit to Pedroia, he muffed it, they gave the guy a hit because they wanted to keep Pedroia's error total down. Alexei would have gotten an error on same play.